Last week, Austin, Texas, and surrounding communities found themselves flooded after a relentless thunderstorm dropped more than a foot of rain in just a few hours. This astounding rainfall event was the result of a phenomenon known as “training,” and as Austin saw, training can lead to devastating results.
Fall is getting off to a slow start this year. It gets cool for a couple of days, then it warms right back up (not that that’s a bad thing!). As the cool days outnumber the warm, though, you’ll begin to notice a lot more noise at night and in the morning, and it’s all thanks to the weather.
One of the best ways to spend a summer evening is to stand outside and watch a distant storm, the soft rumbles of thunder distracting you from the mosquitoes eating you alive. The most well-known part of these summertime thunderstorms is a phenomenon known as “heat lightning,” which doesn’t really exist.
As we crawl through this, our second day of True Summer (not that fake astronomical stuff), many people who haven’t had thunderstorms yet this year are in for a flashing, crashing, startling treat. What exactly is it about lightning that makes that thunderous noise, and why does it seem to crackle, boom, and roll?
Today’s the Friday before a three-day weekend, and just about everyone is checked-out until the day after Memorial Day. Since it’s just you and me around these parts, how about we get our nerd on while nobody’s looking? By popular request, here’s an explainer on how to analyze instability a SKEW-T chart by hand.
We’ve all gawked at beautiful clouds before, but we never really think about how those clouds formed. One of the most beautiful sights in nature is a huge thunderstorm bubbling up on the horizon, smacking the top of the atmosphere and spreading out like a giant umbrella. Here’s a look at how these anvils form.
The first violent tornado of the year touched down in north-central Illinois last Thursday, packing winds of up to 200 MPH as it razed the small town of Fairdale. The storm killed two people and injured several more. Here's an in-depth look at the tornadic storm from beginning to end.
With temperatures as low as 15°F, it seems unusual that parts of the south saw sleet and freezing rain instead of snow on Monday. Wintry precipitation isn't always determined by the temperature at the ground. Here's an explainer on how sleet and freezing rain can turn a beautiful snowfall into an icy death match.
Rattling off snowfall amounts for various locations around your city is a staple of local news reports, and every so often you'll hear the reporter mention that the local airport saw a "trace" of snow. What exactly is a trace of snow, anyway?
We've had different phrases to talk about specific types of winter storms long before the "polar vortex" became the media's go-to scapegoat for all things snowy and cold. The most well-known type of winter storm is a "nor'easter." Another big winter term is an "Alberta Clipper," and you're going to hear a lot about them this week.
Beneath a sky that makes a locker room full of Axe Body Spray seem like a breath of fresh air, the air quality sensor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has measured off-the-chart levels of fine particulate pollution twice in 24 hours. The first reading showed an air quality index of 586, or simply "beyond index."
A disruptive ice storm is likely going to unfold across parts of North Carolina and Virginia tonight as a fast-moving disturbance skirts the coast and drops freezing rain. The system threatens to produce significant accretions of ice along I-95 from Florence, S.C. to Richmond, Virginia, making travel impossible at times.
A nasty lake effect snow event is cranking up over western New York this afternoon, threatening to dump several feet of snow on communities from Buffalo to Watertown. Towns south of Buffalo could dig out from three feet of snow from the system, while eastern Lake Ontario could see up to five feet of snow in 36 hours.
A gorgeous picture of a sunset painting brilliant colors over dramatic spirals in a wavy deck of clouds is making the rounds on social media this afternoon. The picture—purportedly taken in Tunisia—is so spectacular that it almost looks photoshopped. Here's an explanation for how these incredible clouds formed.
A major storm in the North Atlantic caused extreme winds and monster waves in the United Kingdom on Wednesday. Scotland's mountainous St. Kilda Island even recorded a 144 MPH wind gust during the height of the storm. People are breathlessly calling this a "weather bomb." What exactly is a weather bomb, anyway?
When the United States sees a sweeping cold snap like the one we're in now, that cold air doesn't stop at the border. It can continue blowing south into Mexico and race across the Gulf. This cold air can create a powerful jet of wind in southern Mexico known as the Tehuantepecer.
Another day, another explainable weather event. Subtropical Storm Fay is on the cusp of developing in the Atlantic Ocean, and it's likely going to brush Bermuda in a few days. What is a "subtropical storm" and why is it different from a regular ol' tropical storm?
A major wind event known as a "microburst" leveled thousands of trees in Easthampton, Massachusetts this morning. Microbursts can create more damage than a weak tornado, and they're responsible for many lethal airplane crashes. What is a microburst and how do they form?
